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Mike Jackson contacted me last night and told me the following story about William C. "Bloody Bill" Anderson. Col. George Day is a former District Attorney from Brownwood and is also a local historian and an author.

***

"The story I got told from George Day was that his Grandfather knew Anderson and there was a small hole in the wall movie house and they were showing a movie about the North and the South fighting and of course the North won and Anderson stuck a gun to the projectionist's head and told him if he showed that movie one more time he'd kill him. Needless to say that movie had a short run in Brownwood."

I've transcribed the short but very important article about Walter Daniels' visit with Bill Anderson in January, 1924, just a few months before Bulletin staff writer Henry C. Fuller conducted a series of interviews with William C. "Bloody Bill" Anderson which resulted in numerous widely-published articles in newspapers and magazines.

"The Bulletin news man, Walter Daniels and the father of Walter Daniels spent Sunday afternoon at the residence of Uncle Bill Anderson on the May road north of Brownwood. Several hours were spent pleasantly around an old time log fire while Uncle Bill went into some interesting and unpublished history of stirring events of other years in which he occupied a leading part. Uncle Bill owns one of the prettiest and most valuable places in Brown county and the sun of his long life is setting in peace and quietude."

I first posted this passage on this board in 2006. It further documents important visits to Brownwood and Brown County by two "outlaws" who are important to our work. The Brown County Historical Society doesn't currently carry "From the Memories of Men" but I found my First Edition copy in excellent condition on eBay a few years ago. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bloodybillandersonmystery

***

I am posting an excerpt from a book in our Brownwood Public Library's Locked Case entitled "From the Memories of Men" by T.C. Smith, 1954. Re-prints of this excellent Brown County history book may be available from the Brown County Historical Society whose link is in our Links section. Please pay close attention from John Walter Tabor's first-hand account of both Cole Younger and another unnamed guerrilla's visit to Brownwood. Everything in this passage is directly from the mouth of Tabor who was an early-day resident of Brown County, Texas. I am not sure the dates involved. This is just further documentation of at lease one visit, by Cole Younger and Frank James, to Brownwood.

***

"I saw Cole Younger, in Brownwood, after his release from prison. He was on Center Avenue, and was talking with some Civil War veterans. On another occasion, I saw Frank James, after he had given himself up. It was in Dallas, and he told me that he had spent the night in Brownwood a short time before. Later, back home, I mentioned this to a man who ran a blacksmith shop. 'Yes, he was here,' said the man. 'He spent the night at my house.' At the time he spent the night here, there was a ten thousand dollar reward on his head, a fact well known to his Brownwood host. Another old timer came to Brownwood, after the Civil War, from Missouri. Missouri had been a hotbed of warfare, much of it irregular, in which men were forced to choose sides. He was a Southerner, and rode with Quantrill. I asked him, once, why they burned Lawrence, Kansas. 'Because,' he said, 'they burned one of our towns. We did to them as they did to us.' There were a lot of fine men in those days, and those days were interesting. That's just about the story, and, as I mentioned before, That's the way it was." ***

The most memorable part for me though was Surratt's recording of his relationship with John Wilkes Booth. Throughout the journal, he's telling us of Booth's involvement with the KGC as well as his own. I was most interested in learning all I could about Booth as I was aware of an old newspaper article about John Ravenswood who spent a year in Brownwood in 1871 and I've always been fascinated by the Lincoln Assassination. Here's our Bloody Bill Anderson Mystery group's post where I transcribed the article from an old local history book.

***

Hi members. I found this story many years ago when I first

read "Frontier's Generation" by Tevis Clyde Smith (Sr.), 1931, pages

46, 47, 48, & 49.

***

"And now we approach the Booth legend. Perhaps you have forgotten

the details of the story; let us go into it briefly:

Booth was not killed at the Garrett place by Boston Corbett; he made

his escape, drifted down to Mississippi, hid at the home of an uncle

until the broken bones in his leg knitted together: then he journeyed

to the Pacific slope, went from there to the South Seas, to India, to

Ceylon, back to North America, and to Mexico, where he became

embroiled in political intrigue; he would have lost his life there,

but someone saved him because he was a Catholic. Booth, disguised as

a priest, escaped from the country; he came to Texas, settled at

Granbury under the name of John St. Helen, and went into the saloon

business. But Booth took little interest in his saloon; he received

much money from some mysterious source, and spent most of his time

reciting Shakespeare. Becoming seriously ill, and thinking he was

about to die, he confessed to Judge Finis L. Bates of Granbury that

he was not John St. Helen, but in reality John Wilkes Booth. Bates

thought him delirious; Booth recovered, and moved to the Indian

Territory, where he took the name of David E. George. He committed

suicide at the Grand Avenue Hotel, in Enid, during the month of

January, 1903. Before his death, he told several people that he was

John Wilkes Booth. The Enid Wave printed the following story January

17, 1903.

'David E. George, a wealthy resident of the Territory, who committed

suicide here, on his death bed announced himself to be John Wilkes

Booth, the assassin of President Lincoln. He stated that he had

successfully eluded the officers after shooting Lincoln and since had

remained incognito. His statement caused an investigation. Surgeons

examined the body and stated the man to be of the age Booth would be

at this time, and that his leg was broken in the same place and in

the same manner as that of Booth after jumping from the president's

box at Ford's Theatre following the assassination. All the time

George has received money regularly from unknown sources. He had

previously attempted suicide at El Reno. It was at El Reno that Mrs.

Harper, who was mentioned in George's dying statement, had befriended

him and had listened to a similar supposed death bed confession. No

reason for the suicide is known. George maintained to the last to

his attendants that he was John Wilkes Booth, and his general

appearance closely resembles that of Booth.'

Bates, reading of George's death, took the train for Enid, and

identified David E. George as John St. Helen; he then had George

mummified, and placed on exhibition throughout the nation as the

assassin of President Lincoln. At the same time, he set to work on a

book, "The Escape and Suicide of John Wilkes Booth", which he

published in 1907. The book was read with avid interest throughout

the United States; Bates sold 75,000 copies.

The story died down, to leap into print from time to time. In 1920,

according to the Dearborn Independent, Bates tried to sell them the

body of George for one thousand dollars. The Independent took little

stock in Bates' story; deciding to investigate the facts, they sent a

reporter over the ground traversed by Bates; the reporter wrote his

observations, and the Independent editor filed them away. In 1924,

the story broke into print again, and in 1925, the Independent

published its 'exposure' of the legend. The series of articles, six

in number, were written by F.L. Black. Black claims that Booth was

killed at the Garrett place in Virginia; he says that it is all hokum

about no one knowing where Booth is buried - that he is interred in

the family burial plot; and he claims that the government, contrary

to Bates' statements, paid something like $75,000 in rewards to the

men who had a hand in the killing of the president's assassin.

There are two sides of the story. Many people believe Bates, others

discredit his version as a myth.

Boothng to stories appearing in the local newspapers in December,

1922, is supposed to have spent the year 1871 in Brownwood; while

here, he went under the name of John Ravenswood. One day, he told

several friends that he was hiding under a pseudonym. 'My name is

not John Ravenswood,' he said; 'it is, in reality, John Wilkes

Booth.' Later, when he expressed a desire to go to the Indian

Nations, these friends, to show their sympathy for him, gave him a

horse, and money with which to buy supplies along his route. So John

Ravenswood left Brownwood; he never appeared here again. Instead, he

went to the Indian Nations, and committed suicide at Enid in 1903.

The author of this newspaper article concludes by asking if anyone in

this section remembers a man by the name of Ravenswood, who visited

this country between the years of '68 and '72.

Five days later, he gets startling results. A Brownwood woman, who

says she is a cousin of Booth's, tells him that Booth was not killed

by Corbett; Booth escaped, fled to Mexico, then came to Texas, where

he lived under the name of Ravenswood. While in the Lone Star state,

Booth ran a grocery store; then, he went to Oklahoma, and adopting

the name of Joseph Johnson, entered the dry goods business. On March

4, 1913, he died from pneumonia; a short time before his death, he

revealed his identity to his wife.

This woman tells the reporter that she knows beyond a shadow of a

doubt that Booth died in Enid in 1913; she has read letters from

Booth to another one of his cousins, Olivia Booth. These letters

must have been widely circulated, and Booth must have had a host of

cousins, because I have read of about fifty of these close relations

who have been favored by a glimpse at John's correspondence. But

regardless of this, according to the newspaper man, his informant has

vouched for the truth of the story, so there you are.

Unfortunately, I have been unable to find this lady, so I have not

traced this particular phase of the legend to my complete

satisfaction. But I have asked a number of oldtimers who were living

here in the sixties and the seventies if they remember a man named

Ravenswood. They reply that they do not - and all of them have

uncommonly sharp memories."

***

On pages 12 and 13 of Surratt's Journal, he tells of the horrible consequences he will face if it is discovered that he has written any information down about the Knights of the Golden Circle, their members, their organization, or their members. This part impressed me because it emphasized how important extreme secrecy was to the KGC. It also helped me better understand the one of the reasons some of the most mysterious men in Brown County, Texas including William C. "Bloody Bill" Anderson and Henry Ford refused to tell anyone (even their families) about their lives before coming to Brown County. Henry Ford went to his death(?) in 1910 without ever revealing anything about his past to anyone with the probable exception of other KGC members including Bill Anderson. Bill Anderson was just a secretive about his past until 1924 when he allowed Brownwood Banner-Bulletin writer Henry C. Fuller to do a series of interviews with him at his Salt Creek, Texas farm. This was several years after his second wife had died (1916) and the KGC had ceased all operations (1916 also). Still, Anderson never divulged any secrets about the Knights, their organization or activities. That these ex-guerrillas, KGC members, and a large number of ex-Confederates who sought refuge in Brownwood and Brown County still feared prosecution or even death at the hands of the Federal Government these many years later also helps explain the necessity of having an underground tunnel network so that they could freely travel without detection all around this KGC stronghold.

Beginning on page 11 of Surratt's Journal, he begins describing the people who were present at the Baltimore Castle of the KGC. This chapter impressed me greatly because revealed that some of the highest and most-respected leaders in the country were in attendance including cabinet members, judges, congressmen, actors, and editors. This gave me a clearer understanding about the KGC's influence and membership and erased whatever doubt I had that they not only had members in the Southern States but they had members in the highest levels of the Federal Government and military. Reading pages 16 and 17 helped me to understand that the KGC had the utmost respect for our Revolutionary heroes and even patterned themselves after them. During the Civil War, the KGC even changed its name to the Sons of Liberty after the Revolutionary Sons.

Chapter III of the Journal beginning on page 25 gives a lot of historical details about the KGC's plans and works before and after Lincoln's first inauguration and tells a lot about Booth and his relationship with "that woman" who Surratt felt was a severe threat to their plans. The rest of the journal deals with the intricate plans and activities of Booth, Surratt, and the Knights and the many frustrating obstacles and defeats they faced throughout the War. The entire journal makes it clear that it was the KGC's official plans that Lincoln be kidnapped, not killed.

On about page 60 through 62, Surratt explains the plans to infiltrate the Federal military or to encourage recruits to reconsider and back out of enlisting.

Chapter XIII, beginning on page 80 tells about Booth's desire to kill, not kidnap Lincoln. This of course is very important to anyone who seriously studies the ensuing assassination.

One of the most important phrases to me in the entire journal is when Surratt says, on page 94, "If he (Booth) takes the road planned out, he will certainly escape. This suggests what I believe really did happen, that is, that Booth did escape and was not killed in the barn.

At our Bloody Bill Anderson Mystery group, we have thousands of messages
and files dealing with this one topic alone. When I began my
investigation into the controversial life and death of Bloody Bill
Anderson, the first area of identification I began with, of course, was
his complete name. I started with all the documentation I could find
for the traditionalists' name for Bloody Bill Anderson, William T.
Anderson. I thought that such a task would be relatively simple and
that they surely had mountains of documentation supporting such a claim
for one of the most famous men in the Old West and Civil War. I was
right on the first count as finding their documentation was quite
simple, as it seemed that all the "new historians" said that Bill's
middle initial was a "T." There were only two or three documents giving
Bloody Bill Anderson's middle initial as "T" and low and behold, NO ONE
seemed to know what name the "T" stood for ! And they still don't
know. Their best guess is that it stood for "Thomasson" but that is
just a guess as they have no documentation supporting it. Their entire
"T" initial theory is based on the following two primary documents:

1) 1860 Agnes County, Kansas census entry for William ? Anderson, son of William C. Anderson.
2) March 2. 1864 Sherman, Grayson County, Texas marriage certificate for Lieutenant William ? Anderson.

I will discuss the problems with the census entry first. In order to
understand my objections to each of these documents, you need to have
the a copy of the original in front of you. On first glance, the middle
initial for young William Anderson, son of William C. Anderson, appears
to be a "T". But this is where honest people make their mistakes.
Let's say, to play the devil's advocate, that this letter on the entry
IS a "T". Every genealogist knows of countless examples where
census-takers have made honest errors in recording names AND middle
initials so this one letter alone cannot even come close to countering
all the evidence proving Bloody Bill Anderson's middle initial was a
"C." but I will get to that later. First appearances can be deceiving
so one needs to compare that capital letter with the other capital "T"s
in that census that were written by that same census-taker. This is
when you will see that this one written letter does NOT resemble other
capital "T"s written by the very same census-taker. Why is that? I
find at least two possible reasons. One is that it is not a "T" at all
but possibly an "L" (standing for Lum which was the commonly-used
shortened version of the name Columbus). Another is that this entry for
young William did not include a middle initial at all when it was first
recorded by the census-taker but was possibly added later for whatever
reasons.
The second piece of evidence is the much-acclaimed marriage certificate
for Bloody Bill Anderson and Bush Smith. When one looks at an enlarged
copy of this original document closely, it is easy to see that it has
been altered too, specifically, in the date for the decade where a "6"
has been written over a "5". Why was that necessary? Well, the William
"T" supporters claim that four years after the decade changed from the
fifties to the sixties, the county had not ordered new revised
certificate forms to be printed ! There sure must not have been many
marriages in Grayson County during those four years and they must have
over-ordered a lot of forms for the fifties. Let's say, for argument's
sake, that this was actually the case. Then Quantrill's scout, John
McCorkle, must have been badly mistaken when he clearly states in his
book "Four Years With Quantrill" that Bill Anderson married Bush Smith
"during Christmas week" at Sherman. Well, March 2nd sure isn't
Christmas week ! John McCorkle WAS THERE as were many of Bloody Bill's
comrades. Looking again at the highly-questionable marriage
certificate, one finds a similar problem with the middle initial, in the
two spots where the writers wrote it in William Anderson's name, as
there is with the census entry. Both letters could have been another
letter and the one at the top doesn't look too much different than the
"L" in "Lieutenant. Once again, these letters could have been added in
later for whatever reason.
A few other things need to be seriously considered before accepting
these two documents as "proof" that Bloody Bill Anderson's middle
initial was a "T."

1) Why do traditional or new historians not have a SINGLE handwriting
specimen of William "T" Anderson's personal signature anywhere from the
first 24 years of his life? He was one of the most famous individuals
in our history, was a commander of his own band of Confederate
Guerrillas so surely he signed his own orders and reports. We know he
sent letters to the editors of newspapers for the attention of his Union
foes. Where are these letters? The traditionalists' claim the Yankees
found Bloody Bill's personal letters, orders, and papers after the
ambush near Orrick in October 1864. Where are those valuable documents
now? No, they want us to take their word for his middle initial, minus a
proven middle name, based on two very suspicious and possibly altered
documents.
2) Historians are notable for knowing not only the middle initial but
the full middle name of famous people and their fathers. That is not
the case when you look at most of the traditionalist historians/writers'
accounts of Bloody Bill Anderson after 1990. They claim not to know
either the father's, William C. Anderson's, middle name nor the middle
name of his famous son. Take only the most famous leaders of
Quantrill's Guerrillas which include Quantrill himself, Cole Younger,
Frank James, and we all seem to know not only their middle names but
also the middle names of their fathers. Why don't we know the middle
names of Bloody Bill Anderson OR his father William C. Anderson? I
believe many of the traditionalist historians DO know their full names
and can prove them. Why, then, don't they? I'll let you form your own
answer to that question.
3) What is the first job of any good investigator or detective? Their
first job is always to determine the primary means of identification of
the subject they are investigating. How do they do that? They match a
face and physical description with their subject's FULL NAME.
4) EVERY book, newspaper article or magazine article written about
Bloody Bill Anderson, written prior to 1969 when Donald Hale first
inserted the "T" into Bloody Bill's name, gave Bloody Bill Anderson's
name as: "William Anderson", "Bill Anderson", "Bloody Bill Anderson" or
(get this) "William C. Anderson? These writers wrote closer to the
Civil War times of Bloody Bill Anderson so they had many first-hand
accounts from people who knew Bloody Bill Anderson that latter day
writers and historians did not have access to. Some of these writers
were Bloody Bill Anderson's own Guerrilla comrades. These comrades did
not give a middle name or initial to their friend and comrade but called
him simply either "Bill Anderson" or "William Anderson". If they knew
his correct name, and some surely did, they would not have revealed it
because saying his middle initial was a "C" or his middle name was
"Columbus" (probably just like his father's), would have exposed their
comrade Colonel William C. Anderson who still hadn't revealed that he
had survived the 1864 ambush and was living mostly peacefully at Salt
Creek, Brown County, Texas. They were not only bound by duty and
allegiance to protect his identity but were bound by the Blood Oath of
the Knights of the Golden Circle that provided "death" for any member
who revealed another's identity or membership in that secret Confederate
Organization. Other writers/historians were not bound by that code. I
have found that of the book writers who gave a middle initial to Bloody
Bill Anderson in their books that at least half of these called him
"William C. Anderson"! I suppose they were not impressed by two scanty
pieces of documentation later provided by the traditionalist historians
but, rather preferred their own solid documentation. So, out of 26
letters in the alphabet, these notable historians/writers just reached
into a hat and EVERY ONE of them just happened to pull out a "C".
Preposterous! While I am not a mathematician, can you calculate the
odds that these writers would all "guess" at the same letter "C"?
5) Some of the several renowned authors who referred explicitly to
Bloody Bill Anderson as "William C. Anderson include the following but
our members of the Bloody Bill Anderson Mystery group have listed
several more and continue to locate others who agreed that the one and
only Bloody Bill Anderson's real name was William C. Anderson:
- Dr. Robert S. Brownlee, "Gray Ghosts of the Confederacy"
- Shelby Foote, "The Civil War from Fredericksburg to Meridian", 1963.
- Robert L. Dyer, "Jesse James and the Civil War in Missouri", 1994.

6) Of course, the truest proof of Bloody Bill Anderson's full name
comes from none other than the man himself who told Brownwood
Bulletin-Banner staff writer in 1924 that he, William Columbus Anderson,
was the one and only Bloody Bill Anderson, leader of Quantrill's
Raiders. The Fuller interview appeared in newspapers and even magazines
all across Texas and Missouri and the United States. After an
exhaustive search by not only our large membership but also those of the
opposing viewpoint, not a single Guerrilla comrade of Bill Anderson
stepped forward to say that William C. Anderson's statement was untrue!
To date, we have listed and documented 27 Quantrill's Raiders, who
served with Bill Anderson, who were alive after this Interview was made
public. It needs to also be pointed out that William C. "Bloody Bill"
Anderson's naysayers' claim he was the son of Stone County, Missouri's
William M. Anderson, Sr. but have yet to provide the name of ONE member
or descendant of this Stone County Anderson family, who knew the man
they even called "Bloody Bill" Anderson, who stepped forward to say that
their friend Colonel William C. "Bloody Bill" Anderson was lying in the
interview or that he was a member of their own immediate Anderson
family.

I
was just retrieving some information from our extensive Messages
Archives when I happened across the source of the information that Cole
Younger did indeed come to Brownwood with a carnival after he was
released from prison. I've been hounded for years by the Smokescreen
Gang and other "Bloody Bill" naysayers to produce the source (other than
Dr. L.E. Skinner) of that information but I could never locate it,
until now. The source I've been seeking for these many years turns out
to be probably the most respected of all Brown County historians, the
late T. R. Havins! You can either scroll down this message to near the
end where Havins is quoted or you can read the entire message which is
what I recommend you do as it contains some important facts that are
relevant to our work here. The part about Cole Younger visiting the
area with the carnival is very important because the naysayers keep
denying that Cole Younger was ever in Brownwood and that since he was
never here, he couldn't have met with William C. Anderson at his Salt
Creek farm/ranch and confirmed that our Bill Anderson was his Guerrilla
comrade known as "Bloody Bill" Anderson. Well, here's more proof that
they are wrong about both things.Originally posted at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bloodybillandersonmystery***

From: "Old Brown Trivia" by Lex Johnston (Henry Ford's great
grandson), Brownwood Bulletin. Also in Book No. Eleven of "In The
Life And Lives of Brown County People" by the Brown County Historical
Society. Brownwood Public Library's Locked Case. I encourage our
members to take a close look at the "W.L. (Uncle Billy) Williams" who
is mentioned in this article. Particularly interesting is where
Williams told his party, when starting to engage Indians, that the
fight was "going to be hand to hand." New members need to be aware
that Henry Ford was probably Colonel Anderson's closest confidant
during Brown County's early days.

***

"Most students of Brown County history are aware of the fact that
Henry Ford was a well liked and highly respected leading citizen of
early day Brown county. Numerous articles have been written through
the years concerning his various activities.
He served as county clerk (1876-1884) and as mayor of Brownwood. He
was instrumental in the formation of the county public school system
and Daniel Baker College.
As part owner and operator of a small private bank in Brownwood from
1884 until his death at age 64 in 1910 he was always involved in
various community and church efforts. He was considered by all who
knew him as honest with integrity beyond question.
It was in late summer in 1869, when Ford appeared as a stranger in
the small log-cabin settlement of San Saba. He was hired by the
Forsythe brothers as a cowboy on their isolated ranch in southeast
Brown county.
An unwritten code of the frontier was that no man should ask another
about his background. Unless an individual volunteered such
information his past would never be discussed and, as in Ford's case,
perhaps would never be revealed. His original home was evidently in
Virginia. Unconfirmed sources placed him briefly in Nebraska, Kansas
and Missouri before his arrival in Texas. R.D. Forsythe claimed to
have met him in New Mexico earlier that year. The code, however,
provided a barrier behind which practically all the background of his
youth was permanently hidden.
For two years Ford remained as a cowboy on the Forsythe ranch.
During that time he participated in cattle drives to New Mexico.
While on one drive he demonstrated his ability to use a 'six-
shooter.' The incident, described by R.D. Forsythe, occured on a
ranch near Santa Fe. Bud Forsythe was playing poker. A Mexican in
the game, evidently a poor loser, without warning, jumped from his
chair, with knife in hand, intending to stab Forsythe. Ford, who was
observing from across the room, quickly drew his pistol and shot the
assailant three times.
In 1871 Ford left the Forsythe ranch and became employed by W.L.
(Uncle Billy) Williams who also conducted a large cattle operation in
the same area. In 1872 he began his own cattle herd with borrowed
funds and remained a stockman until 1876. During those years he
married, began a family and lived in the rowdy frontier town of
Williams Ranch. It was during that period of time that the infamous
John Wesley Hardin frequented that area.
Ford was involved in at least two skirmishes with Indian raiding
parties while living in the William Ranch area. Details are sketchy
but years later he recalled one episode in a letter to W.L. Williams
in which he wrote: 'I remember that we were riding side by side at
the time the charge commenced, my first thought was to go to shooting
but you said hold your fire boys it is going to be hand to hand.'
By 1876 it was evident that Henry Ford was well educated. He could
speak several languages, including Greek, French and Spanish, and was
a talented mathematician.
The first regular election in Brown County following reconstruction
was in February, 1876. Ford's friends encouraged him to seek
election to the county clerk position. 'He rejected the idea but
they entered his name on the ballot anyway.' He was elected and
moved to Brownwood that year. His life from that time on was 'open
as a book.'
Henry Ford's activity prior to his arrival at the Forsythe ranch is a
mystery yet unsolved. Very little is known about his antecedents.
Queries from members of his family and friends about his youth always
went unanswered. When pressed on the subject he would become quite
disturbed. His personal papers contain few real clues to his
origin. He wrote to himself only that he was 'a Virginian by
birth.' After his death his wife furnished local newspapers with
sparce information indicating that his place of birth was Wheeling,
Ohio county, Virginia. However a search of the 1850 and 1860 census
records of that county fails to locate him there at that time.
A rumor that Ford had assumed a new name when he came to Texas was
often repeated.
A family legend is that he, in about 1865, shot a federal army
officer in retaliation for an insult to his sister, after which he
promptly left home.
A few rumors during his life, and many after his death, connected
Ford with the noted frontier outlaw gangs led by Jesse James and Cole
Younger. Many ridiculously believed he actually was Jesse James.
For years after his death various members of his family were
contacted by several individuals with tales that associated him with
James, Younger and the infamous Quantrell's guerilla army during the
civil war. A close study of James, Younger and Quantrell produces
nothing factual which associated him with any of their outlaw
escapades.
An interesting event that created more speculation about Ford's past
occured in the mid-1880's. At that time two men rode into Brownwood
and proceeded to rob the Coggin, Ford, Martin Bank. While the
robbery was in progress Ford, unaware of the situation, arrived on
the scene. He and the robbers recognized each other. They greeted
each other by name and their dialogue suggested a friendship of
previous years. The robbery was promptly called off.
Many ex-members of Quantrell's army came to Texas after the Civil War
and it is interesting to note that in 1869, when Ford arrived in San
Saba, the James brothers were hiding in southwest Texas and the
Youngers were in Scyene (near Dallas), Texas.
In 1901 Cole Younger was released from prison. He and Frank James
organized a carnival and toured the United States. The show came to
Brownwood which prompted one author to write that 'James and Younger
visited their old friend Henry Ford.' The late Brown County
historian T.R. Havins referred to that meeting as follows: 'I
remember Cole Younger's carnival came to Brownwood, and I witnessed a
greeting of Younger by Ford and they called each other Henry and
Cole.'
After sifting through the many rumors and stories about Henry Ford's
background and with careful consideration of known facts, it is
reasonable to conclude that he did leave Virginia 'on the run' in
about 1864. He probably was a member of Quantrell's guerrilla army
during the later months of the Civil War, as were Jesse James and
Cole Younger. James, Younger and Ford were the same age and they
undoubtedly knew each other at that time. It is unlikely Ford used
an assumed name but he protected the mystery of his youth until his
death."

This major discovery was made by one of our Bloody Bill Anderson Mystery
group members. This is indeed solid proof that,
not only did Jesse W. James visit Brownwood and Brown County, Texas but
that he LIVED here for a time! William C. "Bloody Bill" Anderson's
Salt Creek, Brown County, Texas farm was only 11 miles outside of
Brownwood. What safer place could Jesse James choose as his home than
near his old Quantrill's Guerrillas leader and mentor? Some local historians believe that Jesse James lived on Bill Anderson's farm and an old Brown County map from the 1930 shows another unidentified house sitting on William C. "Bloody Bill" Anderson's farm near the Anderson home.

Readers
of some weeks ago will remember that some weeks ago our reporter caught a
nightmare and rode through the labyrinths of Hannibal Cave, where he
encountered, as he supposed the, James Boy's Gang, headed by the redoubtable
Jesse. The canard has been laughed at time and again in this office, and would
have been classed with other forgotten fish stories but for the murder of Jesse
James by George Shepard, one of his old chums. This morning we visited the post
office as usual, and among other letters found one addressed in a bold, firm
hand to the “Editor Clipper-Herald, Hannibal, Mo.,” and bearing the postmark,
“Brownwood, Texas.” We opened the letter, and our astonishments may be imagined
as we perused the following lines:

From The Pen of Jesse James.

Brownwood,
The Hardest Town in Texas, Nov. 7, 1879.-- To Editor of Herald-Clipper--:

“Your reporter and George
Shepard have the most brilliant imaginations in America. They ought to pull in
double harness at the boss hypothecators. They can lie with more appearance of
truth than any two men in Missouri. Mark Twain's boss liar who walked twenty
miles to show a man a tree 100 feet round, and when he reached the spot where
he said the tree was found only a sage-brush, and explained by saying that the
tree had sunk during the dry spell, was nothing to them.

I never saw your cave, and
never expect to. The man who runs me into a hole will do more than 'Pinks's'
could, as Louis J. Lull can Testify. Lull was game, though; the gamest man that
I ever met, and I am glad that he pulled through. I read your reporter's yarn,
and myself and my wife laughed heartily over it.

The description of my
appearance, rather of my features,eyes, hair and beard, was accurate. Where did
your reporter get it?

I have just read a
telegraphic account of the way George Shepherd got the drop on me, and I'll be
damned if I believe it. George Shepherd would never treat me that way. I shot
his nephew because I had to, and he knows it. Besides George is no coward and
would never have shot me in the back. I wish you newspapermen would charge me
with every train robbery and outrage that is committed in Missouri or the West.
I had no more to do with the Glendale robbery than you had. The bungling manner
in which the robbers allowed the 'dust' to slip through there hands shows this.
I would have known what train the bullion was to be forwarded on from Kansas
City, and would have stopped that train and no other, bet your life.

But the very thoughts of old
days and old deeds makes my heart beat fast, and I long for the wild reckless
past, and but for my wife and boy would again take to the road. As it is,
however, I am playing a square game, and have settled down on a ranche about
ten miles from this town of Brownwood, and am no longer known as Jesse James. I
am not ashamed of my name, but want peace and quiet for my wife's sake. She has
saved me from killing myself, and if I am let alone will become a good citizen
and grow up in a new life with this great State of Texas.

Tell your Reporter to 'set '
em up' to the boys around and send the bill to me. I enclose a photo which was
taken some years ago. It is not a really good picture, but will pass muster.
Believe me, yours in truth,”

Laura
posted this very important message way back in 2007. It's important
because the author was Caleb Bingham who owned the building in Kansas
City that was used as a jail by Federals to incarcerate young women and
girls who were related to Quantrill's Guerrillas including "Bloody Bill"
Anderson's 3 young sisters. Anderson's middle sister, Josephine, was
murdered by the Yankees who undermined the sturdy structure. This
article totally destroys the claims of traditionalist historians and
authors who hold fast to William Elsey Connelley's lie that the rickety
building blew down during a windstorm. ~Jay~

To:[email protected]Sent: Monday, February 5, 2007 11:35 AMSubject: [BloodyBillAndersonMystery] Caleb Bingham vocal in the press about his inherited collapsed building

From: Washington Sentinel, March 9, 1878

It wasn't just women they murdered or maimed. As far as I'm concerned some of them were children.

This
was printed in the newspaper by Caleb Bingham who had inherited the
building when it's owner died...... His rebuttal to Connellys claim of a
windstorm

George
Caleb Bingham, owner of the building, filed a claim against the
government demanding $5000 for damages that he insisted were caused by
the intentional undermining of the building by troops intent on
murdering the women. In an article written by Mr. Bingham and published
in the Washington Sentinel, March 9, 1878, he states:

"These
females were arrested and confined under the pretext of holding them as
hostages for the good behavior of their brothers, husbands or
relatives, who were supposed to be in sympathy with, or actually engaged
in, the Confederate cause... "Explaining as we proceed, we will state
that in the lower story of the building in which they were incarcerated,
and also in the lower story of the adjoining building, occupied by
soldiers who guarded them, large girders, supported by wooden pillars,
extended from the front to the extreme rear of each. From these
girders, joists firmly held together by flooring securely nailed
thereon, extended into and met each other in the dividing wall which
formed a part of each building. It will thus be readily be seen that
the removal of the
wooden pillars which supported the girders in either building would
force it to yield to the
great pressure from above the cause the joists resting thereon, and
firmly held together by flooring, to operate as a lever the entire
length of this dividing wall, with a force sufficient to cut it in two.
and thus effect the certain destruction of both buildings. The soldiers
on guard had greatly weakened this wall by cutting large holes through
the cellar portion thereof, but as it still stood firm, they found it
necessary to the most certain method of accomplishment in the diabolical
work required. Not having access to the pillars which supported the
girder in the building in which the helpless females were confined, they
removed those supporting the girder in the building occupied by
themselves. As soon as this was done, as was clearly foreseen, the
girder began and continued to yield, until, losing its support at each
end, it suddenly gave way, and by leverage of the joists resting upon
it, cut the dividing line in two,
forcing the lower
portion into the cellar of the prison and causing the super-structure
thereof to fall over with a force of a mountain avalanche upon the ruins
of the adjoining buildings thus producing a scene of horror in the
death groans and shrieks of mangled women, which fiends could only
contemplate without a shudder. In vain, had they, upon the first
discovery of the danger, begged in piteous accents to be released.
Their earnest apparels were to hearts as callous as that of the general
by whose authority they were confined. While their prison walls were
trembling, its doors remained closed, and they were allowed no hope for
release except through portals of a horrible death into that eternity
where, in the great day which is to right all wrongs, they will stand as
witnesses against the human monster, who to promote his selfish
aspirations, could cruelly plan, with satanic coolness, the desolation
of a
large district of
country and the utter ruin of its defenseless inhabitants. That the
death of these poor women crushed beneath the ruins of their prison was a
deliberately planned murder, all the facts connected therewith
sufficiently established. The fact that no inquiry was instituted by
General Ewing in relation to the matter and that no soldier was
arrested, tried or punished for a crime which shocks every sentiment of
humanity renders it impossible for him to escape responsibility
therefrom, in death of hundreds of Union soldiers and citizens of
Missouri, as well as the brutal massacre which immediately followed in
the state of Kansas. It is well known that when the notorious
Quantrell, at the head of his band of desperadoes, entered the city of
Lawrence, dealing death to the affrighted inhabitants, the appeal of his
victims for quarter were answered by the fearful cries of "Remember the
murdered women of Kansas City!"